Palberta

Palberta are a lo-fi noise rock trio whose playful, unpredictable songs, which are usually around a minute or two each, recall post-punk groups like LiLiPUT and the Raincoats as well as the no wave scene. After forming while the members were college students near the beginning of the 2010s, Palberta built up a following through their ceaseless touring of underground venues, as well as cassette and vinyl releases on labels like OSR Tapes and Feeding Tube Records. They began to receive wider recognition when Wharf Cat Records released their ambitious full-length, Bye Bye Berta, in 2017.

Anina Ivry-Block, Lily Konigsberg, and Nina Ryser began Palberta while attending Bard College during the early 2010s. All three members switch instruments, in addition to providing childlike harmony vocals that often abruptly shift from soft crooning to harsh shrieking, resembling an art-damaged offspring of the Roches. The trio established a fan base through their incessant touring of D.I.Y. venues, and after digitally self-releasing My Pal Berta in 2013, they quickly attracted the attention of OSR Tapes, home to the similarly eccentric Blanche Blanche Blanche. OSR issued My Pal Berta and Shitheads in the Ditch on cassette in 2014, and Feeding Tube Records released both on vinyl, in addition to Special Worship, Palberta's split EP with (New England) Patriots.

In 2015, Datura Sound released Palberta's Live on the Spot tape (recorded at the Brooklyn venue Silent Barn), and the Hot on the Beach tape appeared on JMC Aggregate (subsequently issued on vinyl by Feeding Tube). Also, a split cassette with No One and the Somebodies titled Chips for Dinner was released by Underdog Pop Records. In February 2017, Palberta's most ambitious recording to date, the 20-track LP Bye Bye Berta, was released by Wharf Cat. The band was featured as one of Rolling Stone's "10 New Artists You Need to Know" that month. Later in the year, Wharf Cat issued Chips for Dinner on vinyl. Roach Goin' Down, another sprawling set of unpredictable art-punk, followed in 2018. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi